Did a search, didn't find anything jump out at me.

I am about 4000mi since I removed my solenoid (that has nothing to do with this, other than confirming it did not happen sooner). Curious, how long should one go with the light on? In my instance I was about 25mi from home on a Sunday night in "no mans land" FL. Even had I stopped at the next gas station they were not going to have 1qt of Liquid Moly 5-40......

In the common thoughts...is this a "OH **** STOP THE CAR!!!!!", a just drive home and dont race it...or what? I suppose I could keep a qt of oil in my spare tire compartment......

Funny thing, I check my oil all the time. I did see it was a bit lower towards the bottom end...not enough of a change to make me want to was 3' to get more oil.

I keep a 12-quart case in my trunk to always be prepared! (j/k)

I do keep a quart in the engine bay, usually in some nook or cranny that will hold it. I do this mostly to have oil warmed up a bit in the winter months so I'm not pouring freezing oil into a hot engine.

WRT adding something other than what you already have, I would do that before running the risk of a seized engine.

By the way, where is "no man's land" in Florida? Miami?

Growing up in Ft. Lauderdale, "no man's land" were the swamps west of State Road 7, where alligators, wild boar, and deer roamed freely. But that was over 50 years ago.

They're a massive stretches of nothingness. If you get between Ocala and any direction you can have about 45 minutes to an hour drive before you see anything but a hillbilly gas station. Between Tallahassee and Pensacola is the same. Then you have the mess that is going through the Everglades South to miami.

I forget how southern northern Florida is. South Florida was strongly influenced by northern "Yankees" and Cuban refugees. North Florida was strongly influenced by the South. But Central Florida never really developed like it was expected to. 🤔

It's not an immediate worry about the engine seizing, so more of the drive home to fill & don't race it. I keep a quart in the trunk just in case, although I never get this warning anymore since I switched from Mobil1 to LiquiMoly. This reminds me that it is time to change the oil.

From the manual:

For those vehicle that has a dipstick and no way to electronically measure, it doesn't show the oil level in real time obviously but how do those cars know when to alert this message when it is too low if there is no sensor? Curious what I am missing.

Another question is, I always ask myself but never have a definitive answer. Is it recommended to have the oil level at the middle of the min and max mark or as close to the max mark as possible?

I understand that oil expands when hot and excess oil is just as bad if not worse than having low amount of oil. What is the consensus on this one? Thanks.

T


There is a sensor, but does it report the level in the cluster? or can it be coded? do not know

EDIT: Added the link for verification of your specific model fitment

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mer...891011#fitment

Ah I see, so does all M276 engines have this?

My take is (being an engineer) that my colleagues somehow already accounted for the expansion, if any, of motor oil. If not, they did not do their job right.

Therefore, I will stay up "to Max" within margin of error.

Sounds good, my oil is at the near max and not above max but I keep reading people suggesting it to keeping it at the middle of the min and max mark. Hence my question. Appreciate you sharing your knowledge as an engineer on this topic.

I think the real problem with overfilling the oil is if you add WAY MORE than the max level, say maybe a quart too much, and the crank shaft spins below the oil level and starts frothing the oil. The oil pump cannot provide sufficient oil or pressure when that occurs, and you could have an oil starvation situation, as contrary as that may sound. Kinda like drinking the foam off a beer but never getting to the beer itself. What fun is that?

Wish our cars (those of which has the traditional dipstick) has a sensor to detect oil overfilled like it can detect the oil underfill.

I'm trying to remember, but I think my 2004 SL500 (no dipstick for measurement, but one to suction out oil) would give a message when overfilled. Can't remember if it was passive or active, meaning whether it would pop up automatically or only when you electronically checked the oil. I know it would tell how many liters were being measured. But hey, that was on a 20-year-old car.

Highly unlikely the newer MBs have these sensors though : (